Violating Religious Freedom

In January, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a mandate under the Affordable Care Act (also known as "Obamacare") that requires all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortificients, regardless of any moral or religious objections. The mandate does allow for limited exceptions for religious organizations, but ministries of institutions like Catholic schools, hospitals and charities—educating the young, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry—are not considered sufficiently religious to qualify for the Mandate’s narrow “religious exemption.” Thus under the HHS Mandate, such religious institutions will be forced to provide services that directly contradict the teachings of their faith, but—more alarmingly—the federal government is claiming the right to decide for religious institutions what constitutes their ministry.

Many people argue that the HHS mandate is chiefly concerned with providing free access to contraception. But this is simply not the case. Contraception is already widely available and "access" to something does not mean having it paid for by someone else - especially against there religious beliefs. The HHS mandate does not just concern itself with requiring free contraceptives, but also with requiring free sterilizations and free abortificients. All of this violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the establishment of any law impeding the free exercise of religion. 

In February, President Obama provided an "accommodation" in which insurance providers, rather than the employers themselves, would pay for the services that religious employers would have to provide - or risk high fines. But this does not solve the problem, because it still forces religious employers to provide services to which they have moral objections. Thus Obamacare and the HHS mandate are posing a threat to religious freedom.

What can you do to stop the HHS mandate and stand up for religious freedom? 

One thing you can do is to print out this sheet provided by the Pro-Life Action League (on which this blog is based on) and to read it, understand it, and share it with friends. Stand Up For Religious Freedom